Beijing Joins Emirates A380 Club

Beijing Joins Emirates A380 Club

The world’s most populous country, China, will fittingly receive the aviation world’s largest commercial aircraft with the start of scheduled Emirates A380 Dubai-Beijing-Dubai services on August 1.

The new service signals the first A380 operation to China, and follows an impressive series of scheduled A380 “firsts” to New Zealand, Thailand and Korea by the Dubai-based airline.

A 517-seater A380 will be deployed on the existing EK 306 service that departs Dubai daily at 04:10am, arriving back at Dubai International Airport as EK 307 at 04:20am the following day.

Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline, noted: “Emirates was the first Middle Eastern airline to establish direct air links with mainland China over seven years ago. The link has proved very successful for both of us and we are strengthening it further with the launch of China’s first A380 service. This new operation bears testimony of our ongoing commitment to China; offering enhanced capacity to the world’s third-largest economy as it surges ahead with its international trade and development agenda.”

Mr. Clark continued: “Although our A380 will support the growing demand for air travel to/from China through capacity enhancements of almost 50%, it will not be sufficient. We believe China’s blazing economic growth justifies a further expansion in aviation links in the near future.”

Mr. Dong Zhiyi, Director and General Manager of Beijing Capital International Airport, said: “We are very excited to welcome Emirates’ revolutionary A380 - the first scheduled A380 commercial jet to touch down on Chinese soil. This is an important milestone for the future of Beijing Capital and aviation in China. We have made major investments to prepare this airport for new and larger aircraft that will be the future of the airline business.”

The A380 is the world's most environmentally-advanced aircraft with significant reductions in noise, emissions and fuel burn vis-à-vis other comparable aircraft. Emirates operates four daily services between New Zealand and Dubai, including a daily 489-seat A380 via Sydney.

Emirates A380’s ground-breaking inflight product includes onboard shower spas and private suites in the First Class cabin; an onboard lounge-bar for First and Business class customers; a new generation of all-aisle flat-bed seats in Business class; a second-to-none in-flight entertainment system featuring over 1200 channels of on-demand entertainment, and a more spacious Economy Class.

Currently Emirates operates double-daily services from Dubai each to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, and single daily services to Guangzhou.

ENDS

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